Commercial vehicles or trailers having two or more rear axles allow such vehicles to carry greater loads when compared to vehicles and trailers having a single axle. Further, tractive effort and load distribution can be increased in these vehicles.
Any axle beyond one may be a drive axle or a dead axle. When an additional axle is a dead axle, it may be positioned before (a pusher axle) or after (a tag axle) a drive axle. Further, the additional axle may be configured as a lift axle. However, vehicles and trailers including additional axles have many drawbacks as a result of the presence of the additional axles.
Conventional installations of additional non-driven axles tend to be heavy. Despite a lack of drive components, such designs still greatly increase the overall weight of the vehicle or trailer. Consequently, the efficiency of the vehicle is negatively affected.
When it is desired that an additional non-driven axle is configured as a pusher axle, the axle also must be configured to not interfere with a driveshaft used with the driven axle. Most commonly, the axle is designed to include a “bend” that accommodates a path of the driveshaft. To further complicate the pusher axle configuration, many pusher axles are also configured to be lift axles. When an additional axle is configured as both a pusher and a lift axle, the axle design must accommodate the driveshaft as the non-driven axle moves from a lowered to a raised position.
It would be advantageous to develop a non-driven axle for a vehicle or a trailer that reduces the weight of the vehicle or trailer while capable of being lifted without interfering with the operation of a drive axle.